1,721,765 research outputs found
Dual Use and Dual Use Research of Concern : Political Implications
No full textIt is perhaps not generally known that the first draft of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention proposed in 1969 also included a ban on offensive research. However, no explicit provision was integrated in the final text agreed in September 1971. This dearth of regulation entails heavy consequences in the management of present advances in life science. This lecture is aimed at offering a sketch of the problem from its very outset and at presenting international efforts to cope with such initial breach
The Special Relationship at stake: The negotiation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (1966-1972)
No full textThe Special Relationship at stake:
The negotiation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (1966-1972)
On the eve of its Eight Review Conference, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) still represents the cornerstone of the regime preventing the production and possession of biological weapons (BW).
Since the summer of 1968, when the first working paper on the subject was presented by Fred Mulley (UK Minister of State for Foreign Affairs) to the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), the BTWC had experienced a troubled existence. After its entry into force, the Convention proved often unable to guarantee adequate compliance with its provisions and still struggles to cope with scientific and technological changes.
This paper investigates the reasons behind such a poor record and traces them back to the geopolitical origins of the convention itself.
In particular, it examines the transatlantic convergence and divergence of interests and views on biological disarmament immediately before and during the negotiation process of the BTWC (1966-1972) and the way they influenced the final text of the treaty.
The analysis relies both on published literature and on declassified documents held by The National Archive in London, The National Academy of Science Archive and the Foreign Relations of the United States National Archive.
The documents demonstrate the extent to which scientists and political analysts on both sides of the Atlantic (among others M.S. Meselson and Hedley Bull) were aware of the existing and perspective issues posed by biological weapons. However, the present study also reveals how such lucid and far-sighting accounts, albeit made available to both states’ governments, were lost in the process and proved unable to make their mark at the service of an effective and durable disarmament. During the final rounds of the BTWC negotiation diverse political interests and dynamics prevailed. The decisions taken back then were destined to haunt and policymakers to the present day
Dual Use and Dual Use Research of Concern : From the BTWC negotiations to genes drives
No full textIn 1999 Walter Isaacson wrote in Time magazine “Ring farewell to the century of physics, the one in which we split the atom and turned silicon into computing power. It’s time to ring the century of biotechnology”1.
Biotechnology actually ushered in a true revolutionary change, which unlocked nature’s full potential to better out lives. Real steps forward have been made in several domains improving dramatically our health, wealth and environment. Unfortunately the same technologies bringing out such benefits could be misused allowing biological weapons to overcome some of the physical restrictions that in the past limited their production, delivery and deployment.
International efforts to prevent the weaponization of life science are spearheaded by the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention.
This was an unprecedented attempt to create the world’s first international legal regime banning the development, and stockpiling of an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
In theory, the threat of biological warfare should no longer be with us, but this it is not the case.
Though in the 1970s the Convention seemed to have borne fruit, things changed rapidly.
Profound transformations both in the international context and in bioscience technology not only repeatedly strained the convention but also threatened to shake the foundations of its regulatory power
Measuring the Effectiveness of Security Institutions and Tracing its Determinants: The Biological Weapons Non Proliferation Regime
No full textMeasuring the Effectiveness of Security Institutions and Tracing its Determinants: The Biological Weapons Non Proliferation Regime Are non proliferation regimes effective? If so, under which circumstances? Existing theoretical and empirical studies fall short of providing consistent indications of the constraining power of security institutions and non proliferation regimes on state decisions.
On the one hand, proponents of regimes highlight the overall capacity of institutions to contain the number of proliferators. On the other hand, detractors maintain that regimes have little or no effect on state decision to pursue specific weapons. The empirical associations between framework conventions and the non proliferation of the weapons under provisions has proved unsatisfactory and weak.
Moving from a broader idea of regimes in relations to an outcome-oriented notion of effectiveness, this paper develops a theoretical argument about the importance of networks of individual institutions (regime complexes) in regime analysis.
I argue that regime-complex level data can drastically enhance our capacity to explain actual regime effectiveness, as well as the link between specific institutional features and non proliferation outcomes. I do so by introducing a new dataset, which includes information on several institutions parts of the biological non proliferation regime complex. I then illustrate the use of the new dataset by developing measures of state exposure to the regime-complex in terms of overall embeddedness, deepness and level of socialization experienced. Finally, I draw conclusions on the association between such measures and that of regime’s diachronic performance
Measuring Effectiveness of Non-Proliferation Regimes: Developing and Testing Determinants : Case Study: The BW Non-Proliferation Regime Complex
No full textAre non proliferation regimes effective? If so, under which circumstances? Existing theoretical and empirical studies fall short of providing consistent indications of the constraining power of security institutions and non proliferation regimes on state decisions.
On the one hand, proponents of regimes highlight the overall capacity of institutions to contain the number of proliferators. On the other hand, detractors maintain that regimes have little or no effect on state decision to pursue specific weapons. The empirical associations between framework conventions and the non proliferation of the weapons under provisions has proved unsatisfactory and weak.
Moving from a broader idea of regimes in relations to a specific and goal-driven notion of effectiveness, this paper develops a theoretical argument about the importance of networks of individual institutions (regime complexes) in regime analysis. I argue that regime-complex level data can drastically enhance our capacity to explain actual regime effectiveness, as well as the link between specific institutional features and non proliferation outcomes.
I do so by introducing a new dataset, which gather information on several institutions parts of the biological non proliferation regime complex. I then illustrate the use of the new dataset by developing measures of state exposure to the regime-complex in terms of overall embeddedness, deepness and level of socialization experienced. I finally conduct statistical analysis of the correlates possibly linking these measure and and that of regime’s diachronic performance (BW national possession, programs, and dual use research of concerns)
Conclusion
No full textThe chapter draws the conclusion form the entire research and the book on the values embedded in EU policies and their role for identity building in the EU
The Search for a European identity. Values, Policies and Legitimacy of the European Union
No full textThis book examines the link between political identity and legitimacy in the European Union, and more precisely of the EU. Stimulated by the present crisis of legitimacy and identity suffered by the EU after the referenda on the Constitutional Treaty, the editors have developed a theoretical framework to examine the interplay between legitimacy and identity in the development of the EU into a full-fledged political actor. The editors examine these concepts jointly, specifically focussing on their connection and also consider the deeper cultural and moral layers from which a would-be polity such as the EU draws its justification and looks at the role played by symbols and memories.The authors seek to: redefine the key notions in the rigorous way of political philosophy, thus avoiding the generic or imprecise language usage found in a large part of political science literature on identity, and test these concepts in the analysis of EU policies that may reveal the world views and the principles upon which EU legislation is based, and also asks what impact those policies have in the perception of the European public, and how far they help develop a shared political identity and a justification for the growing role played by EU institutions inside and outside the continent.Featuring case studies on environmental policy, biosafety policy, biotechnology regulation, civil society, human rights promotion and democracy, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of political science, political philosophy, European politics and European Studies.
Part 1: Theorizing the Link between Identity and Legitimacy 1. Why Legitimacy and Political Identity are Connected to Each Other, Epecially in the Case of the European Union "Furio Cerutti" 2. Identity, Legitimacy and Foreign Policy "Sonia Lucarelli "Part 2: Memory and Space 3. Europe, War and Remembrance "Chiara Bottici" 4. Identity and Capital Cities: European Nations and the European Union "Goran Therborn" Part 3: Politics and Ethics: the Regulation of Technology 5. Global Warming and European Political Identity "Dimitri D&aposAndrea" 6. EU Food Safety Policy and Public Debate "Elena Acuti" 7. EU Red Biotechnology Regulations and European Values "Renata Badii" Part 4: Social and Civil Europe 8. The European Social Model(s) and the Self Image of Europe "Vaia Demertzis" 9. The Double Face of Civil Society "Debora Spini" Part 5: Outside the EU: Policies and Images 10. Human Rights Promotion "Rosa Balfour" 11. Judicial Policies and European Enlargement: Building the Image of a Rule of Law Promoter "Daniela Piana" 12. How Do the Others See Us? European Political Identity and the External Image of the EU "Lorenzo Fioramonti and Sonia Lucarelli" 13. Conclusions "Furio Cerutti and Sonia Lucarell
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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